Prelude to war: 432/1 BCE

1. Prelude to war: 432/1 BCE Athens & her allies vs.Sparta & her allies

2. Web questions • What are the ostensible causes of the war? What is the real cause of the war? • How do the Athenian and Spartan social and political ways of life create such an adversarial relationship that the war became inevitable? • What is at stake in the war for Athens? for Sparta? for Perikles? • What are the main points in Perikles' speech advocating war (Thuc. 1.140-45 = Tracy Pericles pp. 52-57)? • What do you think of Perikles' strategy, as articulated by Thucydides (2.14.1 = D&G 13.5)? • Why do you think Thucydides invokes Themistokles (1.138.3 = Tracy Pericles p. 59)

3. Peloponnesian League ca. 500-480 BCE

4. Athens’ response to Sparta’s concern that the Athenians will ally with Persia, 480 BCE “There is the Greek nation – the community of blood and language, temples and ritual, and our common customs…” (Hdt. 8.144) • τὸ Ἑλληνικὸν ἐὸν ὅμαιμόν τε καὶ ὁμόγλωσσον καὶ θεῶν ἱδρύματά τε κοινὰ καὶ θυσίαι ἤθεά τε ὁμότροπα ... • to Hellênikon eonhomaimontekaihomoglôssonkaitheônhidrumatatekoinakaithusiaiêtheatehomotropa… How do we reconcile Herodotus’ sentiment regarding 480 BCE with the outbreak of war in 432/1?

5. Athens and Sparta in 435

6. Prelude to war, 432/1 BCE:Athenian meddling in Spartan & Corinthian affairs Epidamnos Potidaea (revolt, 432/1)Sparta demands Athens leave Corcyra: Corinth demands Athens must desist from interferingwith Epidamnus Megarian decree: Corinth demands Athens yields and allows Megara to access ports/markets Aegina: Sparta demands Athens yields and grants Aegina autonomy

7. Website questions • What are the ostensible causes of the war? • What is the real cause of the war?

8. Thucydides 1.23.6 on the real cause of the Peloponnesian War τὴν μὲν γάρ ἀληθεστάτην πρόφασιν, ἀφανεστάτην δὲ λόγωι, τοὺς Ἀθηναίους ἡγοῦμαι μεγάλους γιγνομένους καὶ φόβον παρέχοντας τοῖς Λακεδαιμονίοις ἀναγκάσαι ἐς τὸ πολεμεῖν. tên men gar alêthestatênprophasin, aphanestatênde logoi, tousAthênaioushêgoumaimegalousgignomenouskaiphobonparexontastoisLakedaimonioisanagkasaies to polemein. The real cause I consider to be the one which was formally most kept out of sight. The growth of the power of Athens, and the fear which this inspired in Lacedaemon, made war inevitable.

9. From the Persian to the Peloponnesian Wars • Website question: How do the Athenian and Spartan social and political ways of life create such an adversarial relationship … Athenian democracy Spartan oligarchy … that the war became inevitable?

10. Website question: what is at stake in the war for Sparta? for Athens? for Perikles?

11. Tracy on Thucydides on Pericles Tracy Pericles pp. 46-49 outlines three aspects of Thucydides’ presentation of Pericles in the Pentekontaetia in book 1: • Military leadership of Pericles • 455: Pericles defeats an army from Sicyon (1.111) • 446: Pericles reverses a Euboean revolt and stymies a Peloponnesian invasion of Attica (1.114) • 440: Pericles reverses a Samian revolt (1.115-117) • Spartan fear of Pericles • 432: Sparta demands the exile of Alcmaeonids, tracing Pericles’ ancestry back to the murderers of Cylon ca. 632 (1.126-7) • Strategist of the past • 480: Themistocles’ natural instincts and native intelligence (1.138) Thucydides then presents Pericles’ war-strategy speech (1.140-145)

12. Website question: what are the main points in Perikles’ speech advocating war (Thuc. 1.140-145=Tracy Pericles pp. 52-7)? Key sentence “I always maintain the same view, oh Athenians: do not yield to the Peloponnesians” (Thuc. 1.140) • “Τῆς μὲν γνώμης, ὦ Ἀθηναῖοι, αἰεῖ τῆς αὐτῆς ἔχομαι, μὴ εἴκειν Πελοποννησίοις.” • “Tês men gnômês, ô Athênaioi, aieitêsautêsechomai, mêeikeinPeloponnêsiois.”

13. Website question: what are the main points of Pericles’ war-speech (1.140-145)? • Do not yield to Sparta, who • refused to negotiate or compromise on Potidaea, Aegina, Megara • demanded that Athens “let the Hellenes be free” • has a large army but neither a fleet nor cash to sustain the war • consists of farmers, while Athenians have been plying the seas with its citizen-navy since the Persian wars • has allies who are not unified • If Sparta invades, Athens can sustain losing Attica, for • it has the fleet (like our ancestors did at Salamis, and we cannot let them down) • it has the lands of its allies • it can field a better army than Sparta can field a better navy • If we lose the war, we will do so through our own mistakes • by starting the war (though we will defend ourselves) • by adding to the empire • and we will sacrifice our alliance • It is necessary to go to war, and the greatest glory comes from the greatest risks What strategy does Pericles employ to guarantee the safety of the Athenians and their commitment to leverage their fleet in the coming war?

14. Perikles’ strategy: Thuc. 2.14 = D&G 13.5 “The Athenians took Perikles’ advice and brought their children, women and other household possessions in from the country, even removing the woodwork from the very houses; they sent their sheep and cattle across to Euboea and the neighboring islands. But they found this removal hard, as the majority of them had always been used to living in the country ….”

15. 459/8 (or as early as 461/0):Long Walls, Athens Peiraeusshipsheds, 4th c. BCE (reconstruction)

16. Website question What do you think of Perikles’ strategy and leadership, as articulated by Thucydides (1.140-145 and 2.14)? Should Athens have gone to war?